Protective breathing hoods and masks are well known and a large variety of such articles are available. These are used to ensure safe breathing in hazardous situations in which harmful or deadly gases are generated or at the environment of biologic material, e.g. in the event of fire emergencies, chemical or biological industrial disasters or in case of terror or warfare attacks.
Professional protective breathing equipment is used by professionals such as fire fighters, military units and is also known to be provided to citizens of some countries in which chemical/biologic war threat exists. Such equipment is typically more cumbersome and is used to provide prolonged protection and in harsh conditions.
Recently, there has been ever growing interest in readily available, lightweight, portable protective breathing equipment for use by civilians and which may be easily carried daily, e.g. in a purse, bag or readily stored at office buildings, etc. Such devices are designed for easy donning in case of an emergency, e.g. outbreak of a fire, leak of some chemical substance or in case of a terror attack in which biological warfare agents such as anthrax germs are spread. In such instances time is a critical factor in survival.
For example, in case of fire breakout in buildings occupying many people such as large office buildings, hotels, and halls, where many people gather simultaneously, it may take a while until the professional teams arrive, e.g. fire fighters, hazardous-material professionals, etc., whereby it is advantageous that each and every person carry with him, or be readily provided with a protective breathing mask.
U.S. Pat. Ser. No. 4,870,959 discloses a protective breathing mask comprising a fire-resistant stretchable material shaped as a hood for wearing over and enclosing the head, fitted with a visor portion and with filter materials sealingly attached to the stretchable material wherein the filtering material comprises a plurality of fire-resistant flexible layers of material embedding therein activated charcoal particles.
U.S. Pat. Ser. No. 5,875,775 as a structure which is basically similar to that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,959 with the improvement comprising a one-way respirator adapted for maintaining the mouth and nose spaced apart from the filter portion for efficiently directing breathing efforts to equalize inhalation airflow via substantially all of the filter while the one-way valve eases exhalation airflow and reduces condensation on the interior side of the visor.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a personal protective breathing mask which may be collapsed into a pocket-size package, readily available for use and easily donned to provide a protective breathing device which is affordable and instantly useful in protecting individuals at the event of toxic air, chemical and biologic emergencies.